Books

First edition of Bligh's full account of his voyage which led to the famous mutiny - "an extremely important book" (Hill). In mid-1787, Bligh received the command of the Bounty, then being fitted to transport breadfruit and other plants from the South Seas to the West Indies. On 28 April 1789, when off the island of Tonga, Fletcher Christian led part of the crew in mutiny. The rebels set Bligh and 18 men adrift in the ship's 23-foot long launch, with little food and only minimal navigational tools. Incredibly, Bligh managed to reach Kupang in Timor two months later with the loss of only one man, after a harrowing 3,500-mile voyage. Embarrassingly, Bligh found himself having to defend his own conduct. He had already published a shorter Narrative of the Mutiny in 1790. The advertisement to this work explains that "the reason of the Narrative appearing first, was for the purpose of communicating early information concerning an event which attracted the public notice: and being drawn up in a hasty manner, it required many corrections". This is the first appearance of Bligh's account of the entire expedition; the "extended and revised text makes this the fundamental published account of the Bounty saga" (Parks Collection). However, publication did not achieve his aim of rehabilitating his reputation, which was later further damaged by another mutiny and other serious insubordinations. Provenance: Thomas Best (1753-1815) of Park House, Boxley, Kent, with his signature in ink on the front board, initials pin pricked on rear board, and woodcut armorial bookplate on the front pastedown. The Best family fortune stemmed from a thriving brewing business. Founded in the 17th century, the company expanded during the 18th century, especially under the leadership of James Best, the father of Thomas. Additionally, with an inscription on the front pastedown: "this is Mr. T. Best prize of the Bersted Book Club, 1792" and the unusual and elaborately printed bookplate of the Bersted Book Society on the verso of the front free endpaper. The bookplate shows the names of the members in a neat circular design. READ MORE Quarto. Original light blue pasteboard, rebacked to style with sympathetic paper spine label, edges uncut. Housed in custom black cloth solander box. Stipple-engraved oval portrait frontispiece of Bligh by Condé after John Russell, folding plan of the Bounty, folding plan of the Bounty's launch, plate of a breadfruit, and 4 plans and charts (3 folding). Old marginal ink note on p. 80 and a few pencil notes in a later hand. Boards a touch soiled and rubbed with neat repairs to extremities, pink pricks to front board, lower corners creased, a few short marginal tears, scattered foxing and toning, plates offset, plan of the Bounty a bit creased and with repaired tear, C4 also with repaired tear. A very good copy. ESTC T52638; Ferguson 125; Hill 135; Howgego I B107; NMM, Voyages & Travel, 624; Parks Collection 12; Sabin 5910; Spence 104.

An account of Lieutenant William Bligh's journey and experiences leading up to the infamous Bounty mutiny.